Hi Guys,
I have been a professional 3D modeler for the last 10 years and I know how much effort it takes to make a game-ready model. Have an idea of the rights to 3D stuff if it’s put on the market.
Now as an absolute beginner in Unity and C# I want to finish a hobby project of a platform game. I don’t want just to cheat and steal someone else’s intellectual rights. Just thinking about some points if I ever go in the future to commercialize this project.
Please help with guidance on the following two questions:
I have graphic sprites from a source (artist Luis Zuno) that provides them available for public use. Out of the whole pack, I only use the main character’s animated movements. In practice, the colors are different, and the pixel scheme overlaps 90% of the original.
The shot shows the original fox sprite and the one I changed to a raccoon.
Can the modified version or even for example the original fox character in the given case be used commercially?
All other textures and sprites (background, level design, enemies) are/will be created by me, example:
The Link to the public package:
I’m learning a tutorial on making a platform game. The lesson assets also use this graphic package.
Can I use also the script codes from the tutorial for the commercial project?
Thank you, I added a clarifying question on 1.
Can the modified version or even for example the original character in the given case be used commercially?
About the code, does this mean Udemy owns the rights to all the C# code and related tutorial scripts can’t be used? We’re talking about basic vector movements, input keys, and animator chains in Unity… So I can’t use even one line of tutorial code if I want to public the game for money?
Why is Q1 even a question?
The site doesn’t even hide that information in some waterproof, long licence text.
It blatantly states:
“You may use these assets in personal or commercial projects. You may modify these assets to suit your needs.”
Yes, I found it later, and also several paid games using these assets.
I’m not familiar with how things work when publishing a game. Maybe official permission is required for use, mention in credits, etc. That was the reason for this post.
Also, I have no clear idea if the “copy-paste” practice in C# during game development is legal.
I’m not aiming to make any money out of this, the project is just a hobbyist exploration and pixel art experience at the moment. I’m just curious.
There’s pretty much the same rule for all digital assets- whenever you buy them or download them for free, what you’re actually buying is a license (permission to use them for their intended purpose). Anytime you buy a license there’s always an EULA (end-user license agreement) or some other terms of service that spells-out exactly what you’re allowed to do with the assets. Whether you can modify them or not, or whether you need to attribute the author or not, all depends on the terms of the license.
In the case of the itch.io, they probably have a general Terms-of-service policy for all of their assets somewhere on their site. The artist also writes the terms on the page itself. Notice that it’s not exactly the same for each asset- for example, the page says that attribution is not required for the pixel art, but it is required for the music.
As far as Udemy, they do own the rights to code in their tutorial, but I’d imagine there must also be terms of use provided for that somewhere. I don’t see their terms of service or any license specified on that page but I think that would probably be included when you download the files. Also, sometimes code files mention their licensing terms in comments at the top.
I’m not a lawyer but I’m sure you can’t copyright the most basic code. If I tried to go around and sue anyone who wrote
rb = GetComponent<Rigidbody>(); ```
that would be ridiculous. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there's no objective measure of how distinctive a script needs to be, so use your common sense and hope for the best. :smile:
Get into the habit of reading any licenses that come with the assets, and if they don’t come with one contact the author (in this case the person who uploaded the content to Udemy). Licenses are not vague like that. Licenses don’t say “you maybe have to do this”. If you have to follow something it will say so.
